Newham swimming club travelled down to Milton Keynes for a
competition last weekend (14th – 16th
June), which had been planned for a while. Hotel rooms were booked
for two nights and we all travelled up on Friday night and returned
home on Sunday. The journey took about an hour and half.

The hotel had a calm atmosphere and the staff were great and
made sure that they were able to accommodate all our needs. Our
Head Coad and Chairman had spoken to the hotel and one of the great
things that was put into place was that we were able to have an
earlier breakfast so that we were able to leave to make the warn up
session in plenty of time.

There was so much choice for breakfast and catered for all the
dietary needs of the swimmers and their parents! By eating earlier,
it allowed for the swimmers to eat with their friends providing an
opportunity to chill together, and consequently allowing for us to
physically and mentally prepare for the races instead of rushing.

It was great that the Head Coach and chairmen met us in
reception making sure we were all ready for the competition and
gave us a timetable of what was happening during the day, therefore
when we arrived at the pool were ready to begin our pre-pool
training of stretches and pulse raiser to help us prepare for warm
up and more importantly ready to compete.

The day went well with the Head Coach (and a number of parents
that were officiating) making sure the environment was enjoyable
for the swimmers and that every swimmer got feedback from their
races. The gala meet was very well organised, and it was just a
great experience to see other swimmers’ performer from
different areas.

There were so many medals won throughout the weekend and several
PBs achieved. An exciting end of the gala on Saturday included
three swimmers from Newham out of eight swimmers making the final
of the Boy’s Skin race. Each swimmer was allocated a lane of
the pool and then a coloured ball was chosen from a bag. The bag
had eight balls in it – each of the balls had a swimming
stroke written on it, e.g. 2 x free, 2 x fly, 2 x breast and 2 x
back. A ball was chosen, and the swimmers were ready to race. The
first ball was breast and the swimmers that finished 7th
and 8th were eliminated. The next race was back and
again the swimmers that finished 5th and 6th
were eliminated. Our swimmers were fab and ended up winning the
Skins. It helped that there was money involved in winning each of
the individual heats and the competition overall!

Staying at the hotel had many benefits including the Head Coach
organising that on Friday night and Saturday night the swimmers and
their families were all together and went to a restaurant. It was
great to see the swimmers chatting together relaxing, and to be
honest it was just a great atmosphere being in the company of the
swimmers and parents.

Overall the competition was well run from the first race
Saturday morning to the last race on Sunday evening and all
swimmers should have this experience.